ReseaRch Quality assuRance foR the futuRe a ... - Lund University

Panel 5 – BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE
Malmö. This means that there is no obvious entrée into local schools and
that teaching cannot be based on research in a local environment which is
shared by teachers and taught. In such circumstances it might be expected
that research of a more theoretical nature would be stronger. The Department
feels that while some of its work has relevance for teacher education
there is no possibility for engagement with it. A reconnection with teacher
education would therefore be appropriate.
2.6 Evaluation of future plans
The Department identifies two broad research areas with potential
for future development: intercultural education and comparative and
international education. In the first of these areas there is evidence of
past achievement. There has been, for example (and as mentioned above),
research on the challenges to traditional general education in Sweden.
This important research theme is of relevance throughout the Nordic
countries and beyond, and links well with the second area, comparative
and international education. Here too there has been some positive development,
with papers in a significant English-language journal in the
field (Compare) and in publications under the aegis of CERI (OECD)
and the Comparative Education Society of Europe (CESE), though with
their focus on Sweden these particular pieces are not strictly speaking
comparative. We see considerable potential in the development of
research activity in these areas, especially in collaboration with other
researchers in Sweden and more widely in the Nordic countries. A
contribution might be made to comparative and international studies
generally if a research profile with a specifically regional (Nordic) comparative
focus could be developed. The proposal to introduce a Masters
programme in Intercultural Education could be a useful first step in
the establishment of a stronger research base in the field of multi- and
intercultural education.
However, in terms of the ‘renewal of research activities’ it is not clear how
work on language and knowledge would reflect the stated intention to
focus on either intercultural or comparative and international education.
Nor is it clear, since this is not explicit in the report, precisely what the
research profiles were that have now been abandoned in favour of the
new areas of inquiry. This makes it difficult to evaluate both the outcome
of previous stated research endeavour and the efficacy of the proposed
change in the general foci of the Department’s research.
149